Oh yes, she's definitely had her brain played with.

I like your ages explaination :) Although since we don't actually know I've had fun reading all the different fics putting her at different ages. I seem to be able to hold two Natashas in my head at the moment - one who left the Red Room and joined SHIELD straight after somewhere between 15-18, not a kid because of what they've done to her but still a kid in so many ways, and another, more self-assured Natasha who left the Red Room and went her own way before being recruited by SHIELD.

I suspose it depends on the 'purpose' the Red Room has given her. If it's to follow the Red Room, then the fact that the objectives of the Red Room and the state of it change in the face of the collapse of the USSR would be a big deal, but not as much as if the 'purpose' she's been given is the communist ideals/objective of the Red Room. If that makes sense? It's the fact that she says she tends not to weep over regime changes. Also, if a self-assured Natasha didn't care who she worked for after she left the Red Room...I don't know, maybe the Red Room cracking after the collapse of the USSR would mean she'd have no one to follow and therefore wouldn't care, if her purpose was to follow the Room and not the objectives of the Room... *is thinky and possible incoherent*

I will look forward to reading those :D

That's what makes it fun :)